Mariano Rivera threw off a mound with his teammates for the first time since May 2, 2012. / Matt Slocum AP

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

TAMPA - New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, expected to retire after this season, said Wednesday that he has already made a decision, and will make an official announcement before the start of the 2013 season.

"I won't give it up until I'm ready for that," said Rivera, whose 608 saves are the most in baseball history. I will tell you guys when it is the right moment. ‚?¶You guys have been patient enough. Another day, or week, it won't hurt.''

Rivera, 43, is returning this season from a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered on May 3. He reported no pain during the Yankees' first workout, but said that he likely will wear a light knee brace this year.

Still, Rivera insists, he vows to be the same All-Star closer that, until last year, saved at least 25 games in 16 consecutive seasons.

"I'm definitely expecting good things,'' Rivera says. "That's what I always demand of myself. I'm looking for that, or else I wouldn't be here. I want to help this team as much as I can. If I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm not helping at all.''

Rivera, who excitedly greeted his teammates throughout their first workout, and showed no signs of discomfort, says he never once considered retirement.

"I don't think that way,'' he said. "I'm a positive man. So I always think positive.

"Many times I had a lot of soreness, pain,'' Rivera said, "but it never went through my mind that I don't want to do it again. It's not easy. You have to definitely work at it and get it done. And that's what I'm doing.''

And yes, he says, he will continue shagging balls in the outfield before games.

He was shagging on that May 3 afternoon when he collapsed on the warning track at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and carted off the field. Yankee manager Joe Girardi said that he won't prevent Rivera from doing the same routine this year, but joked, just not in Kansas City.

"I don't want to change,'' Rivera says. "That's what I do. You take that away from me, and it's like you're not being yourself. I don't want to be someone I'm not.

"I have to be careful. I'll be doing it. How much, I don't know, but I'll be doing it.''

And hopefully, Rivera says, he'll be shagging right through October. If this is his final year, he wants it be memorable, with his sixth World Series championship ring.

"It's the love of the game,'' Rivera says, "the passion that I have for this that drives me. I come here to win. And this is the beginning, the preparation for that. So when I come here, my mind is already going to different level, and that's winning championships.